Nearly 1,000 people rallied on Saturday, April 26, at the main stage on the New Haven Green to support China and to counter a smaller anti-China event held nearby.
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The rally featured speeches by students and powerful cultural performances representing the many dozens of different nationalities within China. Participants in the China support rally also staged an impromptu march, chanting, “We are China!” The march stretched around the perimeter of the lower New Haven Green.
One block away, Falun Gong supporters who oppose China’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics sponsored a “human rights mock torch relay.” Members of the “Free Tibet” movement also participated. The Falun Gong and “Free Tibet” propaganda have contributed greatly to the imperialist demonization campaign against China.
While the anti-China event was given a permit by the city weeks ago, pro-China student organizers had their permit to gather on the Yale campus revoked less than 24 hours before their event was to take place. Determined to carry out their demonstration, the students moved their rally to the New Haven Green.
The China support rally organizers wrote in a letter to the New Haven Board of Aldermen stating that they felt “a responsibility to make our own voices heard—a voice we believe represents the majority of the Chinese community in New Haven.”
The letter continued: “[T]he major organizers of this ‘mock torch relay’ are not truthful promoters of human rights … The group is marked by their outright hostility towards China, and some of their claims have been discredited by the United States government. We are concerned that this mock torch relay may turn out to be another public display of vicious and untruthful attacks on China. In that case, it would be a mistake to honor their causes as promoting ‘human rights,’ and indeed, it would be a mockery to the sacrifices the Chinese people have made …”
According to their letter, many members of the Chinese community have expressed concerns that the anti-China sentiments stirred by the mock torch relay may affect their future safety.
At least one Yale student group—the Yale Amnesty International Club—originally supported the mock torch relay but withdrew their support after hearing speeches at the action calling for the overthrow of the Chinese government. The comments were made by John Kusumi, director of the China Support Network. Kusumi referenced an “interim government” intended to replace the Communist Party after its overthrow (Yale Daily News, April 28).
Members of the PSL attended the activities with a banner reading, “Say no to the U.S. CIA Campaign Against China” and distributed a statement denouncing Washington’s imperialist propaganda campaign against China. The banner was very popular at the China support rally; many people from the Chinese community posed for pictures with the banner and thanked PSL members for supporting their action.
